Parents are filling a lawsuit that accuses their son’s school bus driver of sitting on the child because he was allegedly misbehaving, making it difficult for the boy to breathe, reported Fox 13.
According to the news report, Steve and Annie Zolman’s nonverbal son was born with a rare birth defect that gave him a low chance of survival.
Over the years their son’s condition progressively improved, but he still struggles with breathing. His parents were excited to get him into a more normal setting where he could go to school. This included riding the school bus.
However, two years ago, their son who attended Alpine School District, was reportedly traumatized on the school bus.
The boy’s mother said he was crying and clearly upset after getting off the school bus, so she and her husband spoke to the bus driver about what happened.
The bus driver reportedly said that their child was misbehaving, and she had to restrain him by sitting on him. The Zolmans elevated their concerns to the school district and viewed the footage from the day of the incident.
Annie Zolman said via the article that the footage was very disturbing as she saw verbal abuse that escalated to physical abuse. In the lawsuit, the Zolmans argue that the district failed to protect their son from abuse and allowed the abuse to continue because the bus was not immediately fired.
The article states that the district does not comment on open or ongoing matters of litigation.
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